


Five's Dark Materials

by muddy_puddles (orphan_account)



Category: his dark materials au - Fandom, zombies run, zr
Genre: Daemons, His Dark Materials AU, One Shot, S1E1, S1M1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:54:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21987001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/muddy_puddles
Summary: Sam Yao and his daemon Marm have been guiding an unnamed runner and their daemon to Abel after they survived a helicopter crash.
Relationships: 5am - Relationship, Runner Five & Sam Yao, Runner Five/Sam Yao
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Five's Dark Materials

It made him feel sick seeing Alice out there. Alice, racing along alone now without her Peregrin sailing above her head, effortlessly keeping pace with his human. He'd watched her daemon disappear from afar, but it still made his stomach churn remembering how swiftly he'd dissolved after she'd been bit. He didn’t think he’d ever get used to it - it was just too stomach-churning seeing anybody without their daemon. Perhaps that’s what made the zombies so garish though. There was something just not quite right about them. Something sinister. Seeing them stagger along, jaws hanging loose, eye sockets empty, daemonless, threatening to rip away other daemons from their humans with only a bite... well, he was glad he wasn’t a runner and could see them from the safety of his own shack. 

“Sam,” a voice chirped in his ear, and he felt the soft brush of feathers against his cheek as his starling daemon clipped him with her wing. “Sam, they’re close! Raise the gates!” 

“Right! Raise the gates! Raise the gates!” 

Sam pushed himself away from the comms desk, eyes lingering for a moment longer on the tiny figure on his screen as they raced towards Abel, legs pumping as they raced to the gates. He heard the siren ringing through the town, warning the civilians of them opening, but the familiar pop of guns settled any weariness that came with that risk. Maxine had already gone to fetch her medical kit from the hospital tent; there was no way the runner - the new Runner Five - had survived that crash completely unscathed. Unable to help anymore at that desk, Sam turned sharply and burst from the room, his daemon Marm settling lightly on his shoulder. 

“Hurry, Sam,” she urged, and he nodded and put on a burst of speed. He was embarrassed by how out of breath he was running from the shack to the front gate when that runner - Runner Five - had survived a helicopter crash and then ran about five kilometres without a word of complaint. 

Chest heaving, he squinted as he watched them come in. Marm burst into the air, fluttering above his head where she could see better, calling down a description of what she saw.

“They’re fast,” she chirped, and he nodded his agreement, “Sam - can you see that? Is that their daemon?” 

Sam frowned as he searched the hillside for the daemon in question. He hadn’t seen it so far, the quality of the cameras wasn’t quite good enough to pick up anything smaller than a human, but now he was looking for movement in the grass he saw it. Darting up the hill at an incredible speed, the creature bounced here and there to draw the groaning daemonless zombies away from their runner.

Something wasn’t right.

“How are they so far from each other?” He called up, and Marm dropped back onto his shoulder, feathers ruffled. 

“I don’t know,” she admitted, obviously spooked by the thought. Sam didn’t blame her. The two of them could barely be a few feet from each other without it hurting. The furthest he’d seen anyone from their daemon was probably about twenty feet. But this runner - their daemon seemed to be tearing away from them, further and further, well over a hundred feet. Well over two hundred.

Moments later, the daemon was skittering through the gates, sides heaving with exertion from their run, bright golden eyes staring up at him and nose twitching urgently.

“Are you Sam Yao?” the European hare asked, and Sam blinked, nodding. He saw the smoky tinge to their fur and slightly singed patches along its rump. He remembered the runner jumping from the helicopter before it crashed, and guessed they must have jumped together. He wondered if the runner was hurt.

“Yeah. I’m Sam. How are you both so-”

“No time. My human - you called them Runner Five - they’ll be here in a moment. They have a message.”

“A message?” He frowned, glancing over his shoulder. Janine and the other runners were racing towards them, their daemons either clinging on to their shoulders or running alongside them. He wondered if this message was better given to someone more important. Someone with some authority around here, who could deal with something serious like this. But it was Marm who spoke up.

“What is it?” She tweeted, hopping eagerly along his shoulder. She was as spooked as he looked ruffled and alarmed, but her gaze was steady on the hare and her tone was serious. Sam’s mind had a tendency to doubt and drift. Marm had always been better at concentrating.

The hare’s eyes turned towards their human - ears turning to them as they watched the last few zombies picked off by the snipers. A few more feet and they’d be there. But so would the rest of Abel. If this message was private, they didn’t have a lot of time to share it.

“Don’t trust anyone,” the hare said urgently, “the Gobblers are coming. They were at Mullins and they’re heading this way. The apocalypse - it’s all because of Dust!” 

Gobblers. The word alone made Sam’s blood turn to ice. He wished he could shake it off, tell himself that it was nothing but a whisper, a stupid story used to scare kids, but there was enough talk on Rofflenet for doubt to have been planted in his mind. Too many kids were disappearing from the safety of townships. Too many witnesses reported seeing unfamiliar figures lurking where they shouldn’t. But Dust? Sam didn’t understand. Sam didn’t even know what Dust was. Well, he knew what  _ dust  _ dust was, his shack was coated in it. But the way the hare said it made him think it wasn’t the same thing. No, the dust he unwillingly collected was far too mundane to be the subject of this message. But as he opened his mouth to ask for more, the hare leapt back to all four feet, eyes still glued on their runner.

And he could see them properly now. For the first time. Their hair was tied back, face smudged with smoke, clothes mirroring the charred patches of their daemons fur. They looked like they’d quite literally been through hell. Brows furrowed, a shine of sweat on their skin, and huge dimples that made Sam’s heart leap to his throat so violently that even Marm fluttered with the feeling of it. They met eyes for a moment as they half-ran, half-staggered through the gates, and Sam lifted what he hoped a welcoming grin onto his face.

“ _ Catch _ ,” yelped the hare. 

Just as the runner reached him, along with Janine and what seemed like the rest of Abel, their legs finally gave out beneath them. Sam’s arms went out automatically, hooking under their arms as they hit his chest heavily, and he grunted as he struggled to keep both of them upright. When he looked down, the new Runner Five was unconscious. So was their daemon. 

**Author's Note:**

> Been obsessed with His Dark Materials at the moment so wanted to rewrite that scene where Runner Five arrives in Abel but with daemons <3 
> 
> Runner Five's daemon is a European hare  
> Sam Yao's Daemon is a starling named Marm. When I looked up small garden birds in the uk they were described as being 'noisy and sociable' so thought it fit Sam quite well.


End file.
